Colourful Italian Vegetable strudel

Italy and Inspiration:
After a recent trip to Italy, I was inspired to do an Italian-themed cooking demo. One of the things that you find in Bella Italia is that the Italians are very proud of their produce. Some of the best vegetables come from Piedemont where they especially have fantastic peppers. The Italians also love to layer vegetables in pies with crusts that are either buttery and flakey (think the richer and colder Northern Italian region) or made with pasta dough. Pasta pie anyone? Often these will be filled with various meats and eggs as well as vegetables.

However, I keep my cooking demonstrations vegetarian because well, one of my devoted attendees is vegetarian (It also cuts out the hassels of kosher / halaal requirements - we are a diverse crew indeed but happily bond over the food we create.)

This recipe then, is a layered inspiration which I constructed from my most recent experience in that wonderful land that celebrates food, colour and family. But most of all, Italian cooking respects the ancient ritual of seasonality.

This recipe is reminiscent not only of a time and place (late summer and a wonderful dash into the northern countryside sampling Montepulciano wines and a bit of prosecco). It also, very strongly, reminds me of something that mother may have presented to her guests at a 70's dinner party (and very presentable it is with it's braided pastry). The nostalgia of this dish goes deeper back in time to the Renaissance. Pies at the time were not only a display of wealth but they were also a way to use up the close of the season's produce. I would not be half annoyed should this appear at the Duke of Milan's table.

But before I get carried away down the annals of history of the humble pie, let me give you the recipe so that you can add it to your very own special occasion. This dish also looks great so you can deliver this show-stopper to the table.  And it looks equally fantastic as you cut it open.

Ingredients:
   
You can use any veg really, but for the colours and effect, I like to use:

• carrots,
• aubergine  
• zuchinni

(Cut all these lengthways about 3mm (1/2 inch) thick)

You can cut your carrots  at an angle so that they are long and thin, but not is strips. (see them in the pic above). Parboil them  because they are harder than the other veg and will not cook as quickly when they are in the pastry.

Then cut your aubergine and your marrows into the same thickness, lengthwise.

If you want to degorge your aubergine to make it less bitter, this is a good idea but then do that a couple of hours a head.

You'll also need:

• 2 red peppers
• half a bulb of garlic
• 250g ricotta cheese (about half a round)
• leaks
• A decent bunch of fresh basil
• A packet of puff pastry

So what you do, is you roast two large peppers with garlic so they get the garlic flavour but cut them in half and cover them with olive oil. Then put them skin side up with the garlic indeneath them - so that they are covering the garlic. Then pop them under the grill for 20 mins or so until their skins go black. Remove from oven and peel the skins off the peppers.

 Then, in a pan, sweat down some leaks with salt and pepper.

Assembling the strudel:

Lay out the puff pastry on the baking tin that has been lined with baking paper. (Once the strudel is assembled, it will be extremely difficult to move in it's raw state. So what you want is to be able to pop it directly into the oven whatever container it is on.)

I like to do this first, but it doesn't matter : Cut 4-5cm strips into the pastry with a sharp knife roughly a quarter of the way in then repeat, mirrored on the other side you should be left with about a 10 -12 cm strip in the middle this is where you are going to layer your veg.

 Start with the wilted leaks and then pop on peppers which you have torn into longish and thinnish (5cm) strips then pop on your aubergine, then your zucchini and then your carrots and crumble on a third of the ricotta. Grind salt and pepper over and drizzle with olive oil. Line with fresh basil leaves (be fairly generous). 
Then start again with the leaks and the peppers and carry on ending with a layer of basel and a final layer of peppers.

Close up the strudel:

Starting at the one end, take the first strip of puff pastry from the top left and pull it across to the right

then take one from the top right and pull it over and across to the left. Repeat until you get to the end.

Tuck the last bit under the bottom of the pie when you get to the end of the plaiting and then wash with a beaten egg.

Cook for a good 30 - 40 mins on about 180 degrees Celsius, making sure that the pastry doesn't get burned but it shouldn't

you only really need to check on it in the last ten mins.

Make sure the veg are quite soft by popping a knife through it. The pastry will be crispy at the bottom and flakey and golden on top,

Cut and server at table in two and a 3cm thick slices.

Wine suggestion: I would drink a nice viognier, a crisp chenin or with a nice chianti style wine.

Beuno Appetito

Weekend Treats: Baby tomato, basil and mozzarella tartlets

The Spanish, in fact many, mediterranean countries will not let you have a drink without a little something      on the side to absorb the alcohol-                    How civilised!  
And in that country (Spain) where the sun goes down after ten in summer and where dinner doesn't officially happen before 9pm, "a little something" is all to well appreciated at the beginning of the evening. But having to make a tapas (as evening snacks are called in Spain or pintxos in Basque Country - pronounced 'pinchos'), should not take a great deal of time. After all, who wants to be slaving away when what you should really be doing is indulging in a cold cerveza (a beer - usually a draft-  in Spanish, which come standard at 250ml) or a glass of white wine and the balmy evening.


These little tomato, basil and mozzarella tartlets take just minutes to prepare and are full of punchy flavour!
Here's what you'll need:
Makes 20



One packet of puff pastry
Olive oil
20 mini Italian tomatoes
20 basil leaves
50 grams (about) grated mozzarella cheese


Roll out the puff pastry so that it is about a quarter bigger in size. Then cut into squares (four strips down and five across). Brush each square with olive oil. Place a basil leaf on each, top with a good pinch of mozzarella cheese (grate more if you run out) and then a mini tomato cut into halves. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on a greased baking tray and cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown at 180 degrees celsius.

Serve with drinks!  

Glorious Butternut

About five or six years ago, I remember being at a friend's house and watching the BBC food channel on DSTV. I cannot tell you exactly which program it was, but I will never forget this: The presenter said that she had come across a vegetable, quite unknown to her and quite wonderful to her.  And so she introduced the butternut.


Indeed I couldn't help but laugh- for us in South Africa, the butternut was a staple veg from when we were children. But she was right about one thing, though, and that is that the humble butternut is wonderful. It is a fantastically diverse vegetable and from its bright orange colour, rich in beta carotene. Butternut is also slightly starchy and can be roasted, boiled, made into soups, is wonderful in stews and curries and on top of all that marries well with traditional Italian flavours (basil, garlic and tomato) so that it becomes a great filling for pasta and an even nicer sauce. Sage is another herb that compliments butternut. Try it roasted with olive oil and rosemary to accompany any roast: lamb, beef or chicken. Another fantastic way to cook butternut is to cut it in half, remove the seeds and fill it with feta or any crumbly cheese (try ricotta with rosemary and generous sprinklings of salt and black pepper and a couple of lashings of olive oil) wrap each half in foil and place skin-side next to the coals. Because the butternut is not whole and heat escapes through the side that has no skin, this can take quite a while so don't wait till the coals are too cold, but bear in mind to make sure that it doesn't burn either. Howerver, if the skin gets blistered (and it's protected buy the foil) this is not a problem. No coals? Just pop them in the oven for 30-45 mins or until tender. Serve with a green salad or baby spinach leaves tossed in a vinaigrette with baby tomato halves.